Better Call Saul follows the life of the character Saul Goodman beginning about six years prior to the events of Breaking Bad.[8] In 2002, Goodman, born as James "Jimmy" McGill, is a former con artist trying to follow a legitimate career as an aspiring lawyer in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[9] He seeks to become a partner in the law firm in which his older brother Charles "Chuck" McGill is a senior partner. However, Jimmy's work is frequently overshadowed by Chuck's past reputation, and he struggles to find a way to prove himself, even with the help of another associate in the firm, Kim Wexler, with whom he also becomes romantically involved. At the same time, Jimmy frequently takes care of Chuck, who claims to have electromagnetic hypersensitivity, a condition that makes him physically ill in the presence of anything with an electrical component and has caused him to take an extended leave from his firm and regular law work. Interspersed among Jimmy's activities are the prior histories of other Breaking Bad characters, including Mike Ehrmantraut, a former police officer who becomes involved in illegal drug trafficking schemes, and drug kingpins Hector Salamanca and Gus Fring, who help distribute drugs illegally brought to the area from Mexico.

The series also provides brief glimpses of Saul's fate some time after the events of "Granite State", the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad, in which Saul fears for his own safety and takes on a new identity in Omaha, Nebraska as Gene, the manager of a Cinnabon store. He reminisces about his past, but remains paranoid that someone might discover his true identity.

The fourth season features scenes taking place closer to the timeframe of Breaking Bad, which was set in 2008; the story, as described by co-creator Vince Gilligan, "brings us into the world — or at least points us on a path toward the world of Walter White and the territory of Walter White".[9] In "Quite a Ride", the cold open takes place concurrent to events near the end of Breaking Bad, with Jimmy as Saul destroying documents and taking money from the Saul Goodman office made memorable in that series.[10]

In July 2012, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan hinted at a possible spin-off about Saul Goodman.[11] In a July 2012 interview, Gilligan said he liked "the idea of a lawyer show in which the main lawyer will do anything it takes to stay out of a court of law", including settling on the courthouse steps.[12] Gilligan noted that over the course of Breaking Bad, there were a lot of "what if"s their team considered, such as if the show won a Primetime Emmy Award, or if people would buy "Los Pollos Hermanos" T-shirts. The staff did not expect these events to come to fruition, but after they did, they started considering a spin-off featuring Saul as a thought experiment. Further, Saul's character on Breaking Bad became much more developed than the staff had originally planned, as he was originally slated to appear in only three episodes; with the growth of Saul's character, Gilligan saw ways to explore Saul's backstory.[13]

The showrunners have teased that "familiar faces" from Breaking Bad will make appearances during Season 4. They will also cast an actor for the character "Lalo", mentioned only by name in the episode "Better Call Saul" episode of Breaking Bad.[23] Both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul said, as of Season 3, they are both open to reappearing on the show as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, respectively, if asked, believing that Gilligan would have a sufficiently good reason to bring them in.[24] Paul had previously mentioned the possibility of a cameo during Season 1 but this fell through.[25][26]Anna Gunn also mentioned a "talk" with Gilligan over possible guest appearances as Skyler White.[27]Dean Norris, another Breaking Bad alumnus, stated he could not be part of the earlier seasons, partly due to his involvement in the CBS series Under the Dome.[28] Gilligan said that by Season 3 that show had been on long enough that any reuse of Breaking Bad characters would be more than "just a cameo or an Alfred Hitchcock walkthrough", and that their appearances would be necessary for the story.[24]

In developing the series, the producers considered making the show a half-hour comedy,[14] but ultimately chose an hour-long format more typical of a drama.[12] In October 2014, Odenkirk called the show "85 percent drama, 15 percent comedy."[33] During his appearance on Talking Bad, Odenkirk noted that Saul was one of the most popular characters on the show, speculating that the audience likes the character because he is the program's least hypocritical figure, and is good at his job.[34]Better Call Saul also employs Breaking Bad's signature time jumps.[35]

As filming began on June 2, 2014,[36] Gilligan expressed some concern regarding the possible disappointment from the series' turnout, in terms of audience reception.[37][38]

The first teaser trailer debuted on AMC on August 10, 2014, and confirmed its premiere date of February 2015.[39] In November 2014, AMC announced the series would have a two-night premiere; the first episode aired on Sunday, February 8, 2015, at 10:00 pm (ET), and then moved into its regular time slot the following night, airing Mondays at 10:00 pm.[40] In May 2015, Gilligan confirmed that more of the prominent characters from Breaking Bad would be making guest appearances in season 2, but remained vague on which characters were likely to be seen.[41]

In June 2014, prior to the series' launch, AMC had renewed the series for a second season of 13 episodes to premiere in early 2016;[31] however, it was later reduced to 10 episodes.[42] The second season premiered on February 15, 2016.[43]

In March 2016, AMC announced that Better Call Saul was renewed for a 10-episode third season which premiered April 10, 2017.[44][45] AMC renewed the series for a 10-episode fourth season in June 2017 which premiered on August 6, 2018.[46][47] The series was renewed for a fifth season on July 28, 2018, just prior to the airing of the fourth season.[48] The fifth season is not expected to air until 2020; according to AMC's Sarah Barnett, the delay was "driven by talent needs".[49] Filming for the fifth season started in April 2019.[50]

Jimmy inadvertently becomes entangled in an embezzlement case involving the Kettleman family, who are represented by Chuck's firm Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM). Jimmy schemes to become the Kettleman's lawyer, which causes Kim, the HHM associate overseeing the case, to be demoted. Jimmy gains public attention from the case, and finds himself taking up several elder law clients. He discovers that Sandpiper Retirement Homes have been mishandling their residents' funds, leading to a potential multi-million class action lawsuit. Jimmy offers to hand off the suit to HHM because of their superior resources, and tries to persuade them to hire him to work on it, but Chuck secretly blocks this effort. Jimmy discovers Chuck's involvement and turns the Sandpiper case over to HHM in exchange for minimal counsel's fees, a percentage of any settlement or judgment, and Howard's commitment to take over caring for Chuck. Later, Jimmy learns that the Sandpiper case has gotten too big and HHM is portioning part of the work to a second firm, Davis & Main, who want to hire Jimmy due to his knowledge of the lawsuit and rapport with the clients.

Mike, a former Philadelphia police officer now relocated to Albuquerque to be close to his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, works as a parking booth attendant at the courthouse, where he meets Jimmy. Mike also moonlights as "muscle for hire" within the Albuquerque criminal underworld, and in this capacity helps Jimmy burgle the Kettlemans. In the same way, he is hired as a bodyguard by Daniel Wormald ("Pryce"), a pharmaceutical industry worker who steals valuable drug samples from his employer for resale on the black market. Through his work for Pryce, Mike attracts the attention of Nacho, a trusted associate of the Salamanca crime family.

Jimmy takes a job at Davis & Main and is put in charge of outreach for the Sandpiper case, but traditional notifications by mail produce few responses from potential class members. Jimmy does face-to-face solicitation to bring in more class members, but Chuck points out this could run afoul of state law. Jimmy then creates a TV ad targeted to seniors and airs it without prior approval from the senior partners at Davis & Main. While the ad draws in many clients, Jimmy is reprimanded, and Kim, who was aware Jimmy was making the ad, is demoted to entry level document review work at HHM. To regain her position, Kim solicits her personal and professional contacts hoping to land major new clients for HHM, and eventually arranges a meeting between HHM and Mesa Verde, a large regional bank. Though HHM secures Mesa Verde's business, Howard denies Kim any credit. Jimmy, who was fired from Davis & Main for annoying the staff with various antics, convinces Kim to quit HHM and establish her own firm co-located with his as a way to share overhead. She nearly persuades Mesa Verde to become her client, but Chuck persuades them to stay with HHM. Jimmy falsifies copies of documents concerning construction of a Mesa Verde branch to make Chuck look incompetent. When HHM and Mesa Verde present the construction proposal to the state banking agency, the discrepancies cause the plan to be put on hold. Kim obtains Mesa Verde as a client, while Chuck becomes obsessed with proving that Jimmy sabotaged him. Jimmy bribes the employee of the copier shop to keep quiet about him being there. When Chuck arrives to confront the employee, Chuck's symptoms grow intense and he collapses and hits his head against the counter. While at the hospital, Jimmy gives the doctors permission to perform an MRI, which puts Chuck in a temporary catatonic state. When Jimmy next visits Chuck, Chuck feigns illness, provoking Jimmy to admit falsifying the documents. Unknown to Jimmy, Chuck has recorded his confession.

Nacho approaches Mike in secret and tries to hire him to murder Tuco, the nephew of his boss Hector Salamanca, because Nacho fears that Tuco may discover his secret drug deals with Pryce, and because Tuco's volatile behavior is drawing too much attention to the Salamancas' drug business. Mike refuses, knowing that if the Salamancas identify him as the killer they will take revenge on his family. Instead, he deliberately provokes a public altercation with Tuco outside a restaurant, resulting in Tuco's imprisonment for assault with a deadly weapon. Hector has no objection to Tuco spending time in prison as a learning experience, but objects to the length of the sentence, so he bribes Mike to tell the police the gun found at the scene wasn't Tuco's, which reduces the time Tuco will spend in prison. Mike begins to wonder if Hector suspects the truth about the fight, making him uneasy about the safety of his granddaughter and daughter-in-law. He attempts to draw the police into investigating the Salamancas by intercepting one of Hector's smuggling trucks and stealing the $250,000 it's carrying, while leaving the driver, Ximinez tied up on the side of the road. He intended for a passing motorist to render aid, but finds out from Nacho that a passer-by stopped and freed Ximinez, who then called Hector. Hector and his men then arrived to clean up the scene, including killing the good Samaritan. Mike then prepares to assassinate Hector, but an unseen third party disrupts his plan.

Chuck plots for Jimmy to learn through Ernesto and Kim of the existence of the taped confession. Jimmy breaks into Chuck's house to destroy the tape, but finds he's been set up; Chuck has Howard and a private investigator hiding in the house to witness Jimmy's actions, enabling Chuck to have Jimmy charged with several felonies and file a bar association complaint that could result in Jimmy's disbarment. At the hearing, Jimmy secretly creates a situation where Chuck's supposed electromagnetic hypersensitivity is tested, prompting behavior that makes Chuck's mental competence an issue. Jimmy's law license is suspended for a year, so to cover his portion of the expenses for the office he shares with Kim, he turns to producing commercials for local businesses in which he uses the on-air name "Saul Goodman". Kim takes on additional clients to fully cover expenses, leading to sleep deprivation, which causes her to crash her car and break her arm. HHM's insurance carrier learns from Jimmy about Chuck's condition and threatens to raise their malpractice coverage rates as a result, while Chuck works with a doctor to try overcoming his hypersensitivity symptoms. Chuck and Howard's relationship turns sour as Howard becomes increasingly concerned about Chuck's apparent obsession with Jimmy and the general impact Chuck's erratic behavior has had upon HHM. Howard pays the first installment of the several million dollars necessary to buy out Chuck's share of the partnership, resorting to personal savings and loans so that the buyout doesn't bankrupt the firm. Jimmy tries to make amends with Chuck, but Chuck rebuffs him, stating that Jimmy has never been particularly important to him. After Jimmy leaves, Chuck's electromagnetic hypersensitivity symptoms return, and after a fit of action that includes tearing the wiring out of his house and stacking his appliances outside, a despondent Chuck lays on a couch and intentionally knocks an oil lantern off a coffee table which then engulfs the house in flames.

Gus warns Mike not to kill Hector, because Gus intends to be the agent of Hector's demise and take over the Salamanca drug business, but believes the time is not yet ripe. Instead, Mike disrupts Hector's drug shipments in an effort to have the police investigate the Salamancas, which Gus encourages. To prevent Hector from taking over his father's business and using it as a drug front, Nacho switches Hector's heart medication with a placebo in an attempt to kill him without detection by inducing a fatal heart attack. Gus agrees to launder the money Mike stole from Hector by paying him for contracted security consulting at Madrigal Electromotive, the company that supplies Gus with the ingredients to make methamphetamine. In a sign of respect and anticipation of a future working relationship, Gus refuses to take payment for aiding Mike and pays Mike's withholding taxes, ensuring he won't sustain a financial loss as a result of the laundering. During a meeting with Gus, Hector suffers a stroke and collapses in front of Gus and Nacho.

Jimmy becomes depressed following Chuck's death, but when Howard states that he feels he may have been responsible because of the dispute over their malpractice insurance, Jimmy keeps silent about being the one who informed the insurer about Chuck's condition, allows Howard to shoulder the blame, and returns to his upbeat self. While serving his year of probation, Jimmy works in a mobile phone store, but starts selling pay-as-you-go phones on the side. Kim and Jimmy drift apart: she ends up as a partner at Schweikart and Cokely, giving her help with Mesa Verde's rapid expansion while still allowing her to serve as a pro bono public defender, which she finds more interesting and fulfilling. When Saul's associate Huell assaults a police officer, Kim works with Jimmy to con the prosecutor's office into reducing his sentence to time served, and she is reinvigorated by working cons with Jimmy. Jimmy attends his reinstatement hearing, but does not mention Chuck, causing the panel to label him "insincere" and decline his request. Kim helps devise a plan for his appeal, making sure Jimmy appears remorseful over Chuck's death. At the rehearing, Jimmy gushes over Chuck and the board grants his reinstatement. However, to Kim's dismay, Jimmy reveals he was lying about his brother in order to con the board. Despite assuring the board that he wants to do justice to the McGill name, Jimmy plans to practice law under the name Saul Goodman.

Gus knows Nacho was responsible for Hector's collapse, and blackmails him into becoming Gus' mole within the Salamanca operation. Gus pays for Hector's rehabilitation, but only to the point where Hector is aware of what goes on around him and has the ability to move his right index finger. Gus hires Werner Ziegler to oversee construction of the secret meth "superlab" under the industrial laundry. Gus and Mike arrange for long-term housing of Werner's team and devise a plan for them to work in secret, but the project falls behind schedule. Werner escapes and plans a rendezvous with his wife, but Mike captures him and reluctantly follows Gus' order to kill him. Werner's escape and the subsequent search and capture attract the attention of Lalo Salamanca, who arrives to help run the Salamanca organization and is suspicious of Gus.

Talking Saul is a liveaftershow hosted by Chris Hardwick, which features guests discussing episodes of Better Call Saul. The show uses the same format as Talking Dead,Talking Bad, and other similar aftershows also hosted by Hardwick. AMC announced that Talking Saul would air after the second season Better Call Saul premiere on February 15, 2016, and again after the second-season finale on April 18, 2016.[55] It returned following the season 3 premiere and finale.[56]

In December 2013, Netflix announced that the entire first season would be available for streaming in the U.S. after the airing of the first-season finale, and in Latin America and Europe each episode would be available a few days after the episode airs in the U.S.[61] However, the first season was not released on Netflix in the U.S. until February 1, 2016.[62]

Netflix is the exclusive video-on-demand provider for the series and makes the content available in all its territories, except for Australia and New Zealand.[61] In Australia, Better Call Saul premiered on the streaming serviceStan[63] on February 9, 2015, acting as the service's flagship program.[64] In New Zealand, the show is exclusive to the New Zealand-based subscription video-on-demand service, Lightbox.[65] The episodes were available for viewing within three days of broadcast in the U.S.[66]

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series was acquired by Netflix on December 16, 2013,[67] and the first episode premiered on February 9, 2015, with the second episode released the following day. Every subsequent episode was released each week thereafter.[68] In India, the series is broadcast on Colors Infinity within 24 hours of the U.S. broadcast.[69]

The series premiere drew in 4.4 million and 4 million in the 18–49 and 25–54 demographics, respectively, and received an overall viewership of 6.9 million.[70] This was the record for the highest-rated scripted series premiere in basic cable history, until it was surpassed later the same year by another AMC series, Fear the Walking Dead.[71]

The first season of Better Call Saul received critical acclaim, particularly for its acting, writing, and directing with many critics calling it a worthy successor to Breaking Bad. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a rating of 98%, based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 8.17/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Better Call Saul is a quirky, dark character study that manages to stand on its own without being overshadowed by the series that spawned it."[72] On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the first season has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[73]

The second season, much like the previous, received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has a score of 97%, based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 8.69/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Better Call Saul continues to tighten its hold on viewers with a batch of episodes that inject a surge of dramatic energy while showcasing the charms of its talented lead."[74] On Metacritic, the second season has a score of 85 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[75]

The third season, much like the previous two, received critical acclaim, particularly for the character development of Jimmy McGill. On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season has an approval rating of 97% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 8.78/10. The site's critical consensus is, "Better Call Saul shows no signs of slipping in season 3, as the introduction of more familiar faces causes the inevitable transformation of its lead to pick up exciting speed."[76] On Metacritic, the season has a score of 87 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[77]

The fourth season has also received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 99% approval rating with an average score of 8.98 out of 10 based on 30 reviews. The site's critical consensus states, "Well-crafted and compelling as ever, Better Call Saul deftly balances the show it was and the one it will inevitably become."[78] On Metacritic, the season has a score of 87 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[79]

The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on November 10, 2015; bonus features include audio commentaries for every episode, uncensored episodes, deleted scenes, gag reel, and several behind-the-scenes featurettes. A limited edition Blu-ray set was also released with 3D packaging and a postcard vinyl of the Better Call Saul theme song by Junior Brown.[124] The second season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on November 15, 2016; bonus features include audio commentaries for every episode and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.[125] The third season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on January 16, 2018; bonus features include audio commentaries for every episode and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.[126] The fourth season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on May 7, 2019; bonus features include audio commentary for every episode and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.[127]

AMC has released two digital comic books for Better Call Saul. The first, titled Better Call Saul: Client Development, released in February 2015, in advance of the series premiere, details the history of Saul and Mike, acting as a spin-off of the Breaking Badepisode that introduced Saul.[128] In February 2016, in advance of the second-season premiere, AMC released Better Call Saul: Saul Goodman and the Justice Consortium in the Clutches of the Judgernaut![129]